Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Teenager" in Simple English language version.
Last modified:
Adulthood is the life stage between adolescence and death, but assigning exact ages to the beginning and end of adulthood is not easy. The event that marks the end of adulthood (death) is clear cut, but the age at which it occurs varies considerably. The beginning of adulthood is equally difficult to identify exactly. A person may be physically mature and a biological adult by age 16 or so, but not defined as an adult by law until older ages. For example, in the U.S., you cannot join the armed forces or vote until age 18, and you cannot take on many legal and financial responsibilities until age 21.
Teenagers get more rights as they get older – for example, they can begin doing "light work" part-time from the age of 13 or 14 (depending on which part of the UK they live in). From the age of 16 they are legally able to consent to sexual activity, and from 17 they can start driving.
Humans biologically become adults when they reach sexual maturity. Adulthood begins at the start of the puberty process when secondary sex characteristics appear and can be characterized as the age when an individual is able to reproduce. Typically this is around the age of 16 but does vary between individuals.
